Delhi Police flouting policy of updating victims on FIRs

Under BS Bassi, almost all investigating officers arbitrarily discontinued the procedure to update the complainants, leaving the victims to run from pillar to post to get an update.

In October 2012, Neeraj Kumar had directed all policemen, through an order to note down the contact details of the victim who files a case. The contact details include email addresses, mobile phone numbers, postal addresses of the complainants.

The order also mentions: ‘When the complainant is available at the police station, s/he will be asked whether s/he would like to be updated about the progress of the case or not. If the complainant is willing to remain updated about the case throughout the investigation, the investigating officer will have to provide him/her the update on the contact details provided by him.’

Millennium Post randomly telephoned as many as 15 victims to know whether the investigating officers were updating the complainants about the cases. Shockingly, all 15 victims replied in negative saying that they have never been contacted for any such update.

‘Are the cops meant to update us? Is it mandatory? Because the concerned officers never follow such procedures,’ said Raveena (name changed), a rape victim in Kalyanpuri area. The 30-year-old man who raped Raveena last year is still absconding.

‘Forget about updating us, the officers do not take calls. Whenever we need an update in our case-burglary that took place in October in Mansarovar Park area, we have to go to the police station but to no avail. Most of the time, the investigating officer is not available as he is either busy in completing court work or he is out on investigating some other case,’ said Ravinder Sharma, another complainant.

However, the order also mentioned that if in cases where a person does not have a phone or Internet connection, the area’s assistant commissioner of police must ensure all investigation officers are present in police stations between 4 pm and 6 pm to inform the complainant/s about his or her case. Shockingly, even these guidelines are being violated by the cops openly.

‘I will look into the matter and if the orders are not followed by the policemen, action will be taken against them,’ said a senior police official, who does not want to be named.